A hearing with no applicant
It’s rare but it happens, a municipal hearing but without an applicant present. That’s what happened Tuesday night in Chadds Ford Township. There was no one present to oppose the application, either.
Piazza Auto Group wants to come into the township and set up two adjacent car dealerships, one for Hyundai and another for its luxury line, Genesis. One of the two would be in a zoning district that doesn’t allow automotive sales, so they need and have asked for an amendment to the Chadds Ford zoning ordinance.
To do that, there must be a hearing and that’s what supervisors held on June 20 but without the applicant present. Township solicitor Mike Maddren said Piazza’s attorney was out of town.
Piazza wants to move into 1540 and 1544 Wilmington West Chester Pike, Route 202. While the two addresses have been reverse subdivided into one property, the 1540 address is in the B Business zoning district where auto sales are not permitted. The other address is in B-1, where such sales are allowed with conditional use approval.
The hearing consisted of the supervisors discussing the matter with Maddren explaining that a number of actions will be happening concurrently. One of those actions is the Board of Supervisors’ decision on the text amendment hearing, along with a conditional use hearing and the land development application for turning a former fireplace store into a car dealership.
Chadds Ford Township Planning Commission members and the Delaware County Planning Department had already recommended the text change.
The next supervisors’ meeting will be held on July 6, while the land development application will likely be heard in late July.
About Rich Schwartzman
Rich Schwartzman has been reporting on events in the greater Chadds Ford area since September 2001 when he became the founding editor of The Chadds Ford Post. In April 2009 he became managing editor of ChaddsFordLive. He is also an award-winning photographer.
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